First off, when we booked the cruise the agent we spoke with via Norwegian promised us that because we would be going on was a Thanksgiving sailing that the prices would only go up from the point at which we had purchased. This was sadly not the case. A month before our departure the prices dropped $250 per person which made that a total loss of $500, had we of waited I know we could have still received a balcony room for the lesser price. We fought this one with them tooth and nail, but all they did was offer us a one time $100 on-board credit and a room upgrade. We found out later that the room was actually a downgrade. We were between a large family with loud kids and a couple of chain smokers on the other side. The cruiselines know whom is in each room and we specifically asked for them to keep us away from kids. We don’t have any of our own yet and that is not relaxing listening to other peoples children cry and scream. We just kept our balcony door shut most of the time and
didn’t use it as much as we would have given the circumstances.

When we arrived in Miami, FL where the cruiseship was leaving (The Norwegian Pearl to be exact) they did NOT give us confidence in handling our bags. Usually they give you a stub or something that has your bag number. The way they operated, anybody could have taken your luggage and it was not well monitored in the loading/collection area. Other people in line were complaining too.

Once on the ship we were all greeted with a sparling glass of champagne, or orange juice, whichever you prefer. This was a nice touch and a first for me on a cruiseship. We headed to our room and my husband’s luggage arrived almost immediately and my two bags had not arrived. I also received a note for me to go “downstairs’ and have my bags checked. I don’t drink much and I never carry alcohol in my luggage, the cruiselines prohibit that anyways. I had to waste two hours of my time dealing with that only to finally get my bags that I now had to haul halfway around the ship myself when there was NOT a problem to begin with. They “thought” they saw something that I wasn’t supposed to have. I had a very tiny travel iron which was fine, not confiscated, etc. Some allow it, some don’t. I was doing that while hubby was relaxing at the spa.

We met a great couple on board and had a lot of fun most of the time. The ship has a beautiful spa and private pool area where adults are only allowed. Here they offer heated mosaic tile loungers, couples soft loungers, mens and womens separate quarters where each room has 2 individual hot tubs as well as an ice-cold plunge pool and of course a steam room and a sauna as well as many lounge chairs, showers, washrooms, lockers, etc. You are at the font of the ship and see water even while you are in the sauna!! It truly was the best part of the ship’s amenities. It was a per day fee per person or you got a weekly deal per person which we chose. Everyone there knew us by name and were VERY sweet and pleasant. We even had a couples spa scrub/mint mud experience and had a lot of product left over that I kept and used in our own shower for the rest of the trip!

The rooms I must say are larger comparably than that of Royal Caribbean. The shower could fit two people if desired and it is a stand up shower, whereas others are small little circular stand-ups that you can barely move in. This was nice! Also, the toilet is in a separate comparmentalized room in the bathroom so two people can be in the bathroom at one time no problem. There was a queen bed and a pull-out sofa in our balcony room. There was also a lot of closet and drawer space for two people. The balcony was quite nice also, minus the noise/smoke mentioned above.

They offered bowling, rock-climbing and had life size chess games on the ship. These were all fun. I have to say their shows were much better than those on other ships. The excursion offering was very extensive for each port. We chose one excurion per port.

The food is what is NOT so good as other ships, in particular royal caribbean or Celebrity. The food is average. It isn’t terrible but you don’t look forward to it like you do on others. The couple we hung out with all week had been on Royal Caribbean last, so had we, and were were commenting about it all week. Now, their spread at the buffet/casual area to eat was actually very extensive and impressive most days! I loved having breakfast and lunch best in that area. The dinners we always ate at the formal restaurants and were not very impressive to someone who has cruised before. I had been warned about this beforehand and it is true. The optional upgrade restaurants are $10-$20 per person if you choose to eat there. We ate at a steak house one night and it was an extra $30 each b/c we chose lobster with steak. I do like the freestyle dining though. I liked not HAVING to eat at 6pm or whenever. You can head to dinner when you are ready and they’ll seat you. That was a nice change.

The excurions were fun and we liked the destinations we went to including their private island where we got a lot of great snorkel in and some awesome photos with clear water and stingray and fish too.

All in all, I might do Norwegian again because I like the spa aspect every day but I’d only do it if I got an amazing deal for the trip and would then pay the extra for the spa.

I rate them an 8 because I like roominess, friendly staff and the ship was very clean. I’m still not happy with the way they dropped prices last minute after telling us it would be impossible and we should book when we did. Bottom line: Book at the last minute!

Rating: 8